When you vote for a candidate for high office, sometimes you do so with fingers crossed. You just don’t know how they’ll handle the new responsibilities. Will they succumb to pressure and influence? Or will they remain true?

In a year when voters overwhelming demanded changes to business as usual in Washington, Roy Blunt showed he has the rectitude to stand strong for the tried and true practices of obfuscation, political double-speak, and deflection.

Take earmarks. The Tea Party’s Contract From America__ demanded that Congress ban earmarks from deficit budgets and require full disclosure for earmarks at all other times. Will Roy Blunt bow to the fanatical will of the people by swearing off earmarks?

Hell, no. For that matter, to demonstrate his brave adherence to the Washington party line, Roy won’t even give a firm answer to the question. In an era when meaning what you say and saying what you mean is treasured, Senator-elect Blunt is unafraid to dodge the earmark question by pointing out that Ron Paul requests many earmarks for his district in Texas. From WSJ:

“Rand [Paul] doesn’t agree with his dad on that. His dad is a leading advocate of earmarks on this side of the building. I’ll let the Pauls work that out and then I’ll see where they come down.” We share a laugh over that.

Now that’s spine. Encourage a little domestic dispute to determine the fate of earmarks.

Any run-of-the-mill Tea Party politician might have given the simple, easy answer. For example, “You know, I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to requesting earmarks. But with the trillions in debt and with the new understanding that our spending is destroying America’s future, I’m going to support the tea party’s Contract and co-sponsor legislation severely curtailing earmarks. In fact, I think we should ban them altogether from budgets with a projected deficit.”

Yes, an answer like that is cowardly. It panders to the sentiments of 60 percent of the people who sent Roy to Washington. And such a straightforward answer wimpishly admits complicity in the monstrous national debt. Who wants leaders to take responsibility for their actions?

Congratulations to Roy Blunt for showing the testicularity to pretend the Tea Party never happened.